Conventional acupuncture treatment utilizes various sizes of needles to act on various acupuncture/stimulation points (or acupoints) for stimulating to enhance self healing, blood circulation and metabolism of the patient. However, the conventional acupuncture treatment is invasive and may not be acceptable for some patients.
Another conventional treatment for stimulating the acupuncture points is to utilize moxa, which is to be burnt proximate to the patient's skin at positions corresponding to the acupuncture points, to stimulate the acupuncture points by way of thermal energy (also known as moxibustion). Although such conventional treatment is non-invasive, it may cause burn injuries to the patients (such as blisters) when the burnt moxa is not properly handled.
Recently, scientists have proposed to stimulate the acupuncture points utilizing electrical currents. Chinese patent application publication No. CN203075468U discloses a conventional electrode that can be used in a direct current electrical stimulation system to enhance drug absorbing efficiency. The conventional electrode includes an electrode layer and a hydro-gel adhesive layer disposed to contact directly the patient's skin for enhancing the transmission of a stimulating current to the stimulating points of the patient. However, the hydro-gel adhesive layer may be peeled off from the electrode layer, resulting in poor adhesion of the conventional electrode to the patient's skin.
US patent application publication No. 20130204315 discloses a conventional transcranial direct current electrical stimulation system, which comprises an electrode set including a conventional electrode to provide electrical current stimulation to patients. The conventional electrode includes a sponge portion configured to be secured to the subject/patient's head during the direct current stimulation process, and a stimulating portion inserted or positioned behind the sponge portion. However, such conventional electrode may need to be soaked in conductive liquid manually in advance to perform the direct current electrical stimulation treatment, thereby resulting in some inconvenience.